Habs notebook - March 19, 2010

MONTREAL ---In today’s notebook, the Habs aren’t filling their free time by watching T.V., Paul Mara goes under the knife and the lowly Maple Leafs find some extra motivation.

Tuning out: Coming on the heels of James Wisniewski’s NHL season-high eight-game suspension for his hit on Brent Seabrook this week, all eyes were on TD Banknorth Garden yesterday looking to see what kind of vigilante justice the Bruins would exact on the Penguins’ Matt Cooke for his unpunished blind side hit on Marc Savard. All eyes except the Montreal Canadiens’ that is…

For his part, Hal Gill preferred to focus on his next opponent than the non revenge-filled game going down in Beantown. “I didn’t watch it. I had a dinner and we watched the Leafs game right after that.”

Maxim Lapierre, who just finished serving a four-game suspension of his own for his hit on Scott Nichol, wasn’t worrying about Cooke getting off scot-free for his indiscretions. “I didn’t watch the game,” explained the feisty Habs center. “You don’t want to ask me about the Wisniewski suspension? Anybody? No? Ok.”

Since the Habs all seemed to have missed the rematch in Boston last night, they could always head over to Michael Cammalleri’s pad to check out Sportscenter with the speedy sniper. “I haven’t had a chance to see the highlights from last night’s game yet,” admitted Cammalleri.

Clinically speaking: Out of the lineup since January 22, Paul Mara has played his final game of the season and perhaps his final game with the Canadiens. The 29-year-old unrestricted free agent to be will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery in Boston. The news wasn’t all doom and gloom for Jacques Martin who confirmed he is on the brink of having Cammalleri and Marc-Andre Bergeron back on his depth chart.

“Michael and Marc-Andre won’t be in the lineup against Toronto, but both of them should be back sometime next week. They will then need a bit of time to get their timing back. As for Tomas Plekanec, he will be in uniform on Saturday even though he missed practice once this week.”

No time to let up versus Leafs: With nothing to lose these days, the bottom-feeding Maple Leafs would love nothing more than to play the role of spoilers down the stretch for their playoff-bound rivals. Just ask the Senators and Devils who have felt the wrath of the loosey-goosey Leafs of late.

“The way the Leafs are playing right now, they don’t look like a last-place team to me,” said Gill. “Their lineup is full of young guys trying to make a strong impression and earn spots for next season. I’m not expecting it to be an easy night in T.O. on Saturday.”